\ 


67th Congress, 

2d Session 


SENATE 


/ Document 

\ No. 260 




WORK OF THE VETERANS’ BUREAU 


UB 373 
045 
1922c 
Copy 2 


ADDRESS 

OF 

COL. C. R. FORBES 

Director United States Veterans’ Bureau 
AT 

DISTRICT MANAGERS’ CONFERENCE 

September 18, 1922 



2 - 2 .- 7.4 3 


PRESENTED BY MR. HARRELD 

SEPTEMBER 16 (calendar day, SEPTEMBER 18), 1022.—Ordered to be printed 


WASHINGTON 

GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 
1922 


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LIBRARY OF CONilHESI 

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WORK OF THE VETERANS’ RUREAU. 


ADDRESS OF COL. C. R. FORBES AT DISTRICT MANAGERS’ CON¬ 
FERENCE SEPTEMBER 18, 1922. 

Gentlemen: I welcome you to the second annual conference of 
district managers and officers having charge of the medical and 
rehabilitation work of the United States Veterans’ Bureau. 

I have observed your work very closely since our last conference. 
I have been mindful of my promises to you and I have remembered 
your promises to me. I can not say that in every instance you have 
fulfilled your part of our agreement and it may be that all I hoped to 
do has not been possible. I do not, however, attribute to you any 
neglect of duty, nor charge you with any negligence toward the pro- 

f ram, and I do sense your confidence that anything I may not have 
een able to accomplish did not materialize for a good and sufficient 
reason. Such failures as have occurred, I believe, are to have been 
expected in the normal process of development. 

Decentralization has taken place since our last conference. You 
have had at least six months to put into effect those policies which 
have been promulgated and transmitted to you, in part, at the last 
conference and in part subsequently by letter or by formal orders, 
regulations, or bulletins. 

It has no doubt occurred to you on numerous occasions and has 
been brought also to your attention by many who are interested in 
this big problem that with decentralization the importance of our 
task in the field has increased proportionately. Many have been the 
obstacles arising in the practical applications of central office working 
instructions to field conditions, and numerous have been the criti¬ 
cisms fired at you from all sides for what was apparently a failure to 
get your organization into effective working shape and produce 
results immediately. Most of the problems you have approached in 
a satisfactory way. Some of the criticisms have been met by an 
enlightening explanation, and some still remain to be answered. 
These conditions, however, are a part of the job, and while they neces¬ 
sarily entail concern and worry, your director assures you of his 
willingness that you share this official grief in proportion to your 
increased responsibilities. Your reward will be that comfort which 
comes from a job well done, your budget precludes the sordid one 
you may have in mind. When I reflect on the worries that attend 
the administration of this work I often recall the inspiration that 
came to me when I read the following little squib by a homely corn- 
fed philosopher whose name has gone but whose words remain: 

Any work of importance carries with it a certain amount of worry. The man who 
has lived his life with a single purpose of avoiding all worry has lived a shirker’s 
existence; it is because we are men and are doing worth-while things that we feel 
concern, and the man who has nothing to worry about is of little importance in this 
scheme of things and usually realizes it. 


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WORK OF THE VETERANS* BUREAU. 


And so one measure of relief which you can afford yourself will be 
to follow strictly the principles laid down by the central office and to 
see to it that you do not modify the program, alter a procedure, or 
deviate from instructions without appropriate authority from the 
director. 

A rigid adherence to this policy will at least obviate certain addi¬ 
tional worries sure to come if central office instructions are not 
observed—and there will be no reward for this worry. 

You must keep before you at all times the fact that the director 
will be held responsible by the President for the successful operation 
of the manifold functions of the bureau and for the proper adminis¬ 
tration of all institutions having to do with the care, treatment, or 
training of the disabled ex-service men. 

It is your duty to inform the director wherein your opinion may 
differ with the principles of any rules or regulations promulgated. 
I believe you appreciate that your director seeks such suggestions 
and criticisms and also that he is grateful for the advancement of 
any ideas which give promise of being potential incentives to sounder 
principles or better methods. The bureau has been markedly 
helped by suggestions offered from the field and developed into rules 
of action for general observation through the organization. 

There are some things about which I know no more than I do 
concerning the Jewish alphabet, but I am conscious of a firm con¬ 
viction of one thing, that the degree to which the Veterans’ Bureau 
can operate profitably and successfully will be in direct proportion to 
the extent that a harmonious and helpful exchange of ideas is devel¬ 
oped and maintained among those employees having charge of the 
various activities. There can not be one set of rules for one district 
and another set for another district. Uniformity of action in all 
coordinate field agencies is vital to the ultimate success of this organi¬ 
zation. This principle is axiomatic. 

Sound organization and economical systems of operation are ele¬ 
mental principles observed by all successful industries. In the large 
businesses of the country the home office sends to the field agencies, 
through strikingly uniform means, rules, and regulations for the 
guidance of field activities. Such instructions invariably emanate 
from the home office only after careful study and mature* considera¬ 
tion, and field agencies are held strictly accountable for a rigid ad¬ 
herence to such instructions. Were this not true, the field offices 
would soon develop individual practices which could never be toler¬ 
ated in an organization whose scope of activity is nation-wide. It 
Would naturally follow that any leniency shown by one field office 
would become known in another section of the country and the 
patrons of the organization not receiving the favored consideration 
would become dissatisfied at the discrimination. And so it is with 
our work—absolutely uniform treatment of beneficiaries of this bu¬ 
reau must be practiced from Maine to California and from Florida to 
Washington. 

And I do not propose that my active and intense interest in this 
work shall cease until the entire organization has become a successful 
and smoothly operated machine, and this great institution of the 
Government is so functioning that irregularities and mistakes shall 
have reached the proverbial irreducible minimum. 


WORK OF THE VETERANS* BUREAU. $ 

Now for a word about the great rank and file who are handling 
the infinitude of detail involved in creating and maintaining the 
millions of records of the United States Veterans’ Bureau. I try to 
think of all of us as constituting a big family which has the interest 
of the ex-service man a,t heart and the interest of each other member 
of the family before him at all tunes. We can not be successful if 
we disregard the interest of those with whom we are in daily asso¬ 
ciation. We can not be calloused to the needs of those for whose 
service the family was created. We can not be an organization of 
big business if the principles which actuate our motives are not 
founded on sincerity, truth, energy, and personal forcefulness, or if 
we are either openly or covertly disloyal, or if we have disloyalty 
within our ranks, or if we harbor hatred or malice. I am sorry to 
sa y> gentlemen, that our district and subdistrict offices are not 
entirely free from evidences of these weaknesses. 

It is right that every man should seek advancement and it is, 
indeed, a credit to a man if his ambition and desires lead him to look 
beyond his present responsibility. But let me warn you against 
attempting the gratification of such ambition or desires if their 
accomplishment must be at the expense of a deserving fellow work¬ 
man. It is, indeed, uncharitable and unmanly to further one’s own 
personal ends by taking or permitting others to take unfair advan¬ 
tages. 

Within this bureau there are many opportunities for the recogni¬ 
tion of loyal and competent service, and district managers and chiefs 
of sections should see to it that promotions are made for efficiency 
and that increases are recommended purely on the basis of loyalty, 
devotion to duty, and productive accomplishment. If you will 
study the problem from a business point of view entirely, you will 
never treat superficially the earnest eagerness of the employees 
within whom the great evolutionary force may be working, and you 
will in so far as it is humanly possible take into account the loyal 
interest as evidenced. 

Have no hesitancy in seeking advice and suggestions of your 
coworkers. Do not become imbued with the fancy that your per¬ 
sonal qualities, your personal thoughts, or your personal convictions 
alone are an adequate basis for the determination of a solution to an 
important problem. Remember that sound judgment and genius 
too, if you please, are not confined entirely to those who have the 
advantage of position and, further, that some of the most remarkable 
advancements the world has seen have come from the ranks of the 
industries of the North, of the South, of the East, and of the West. 
It matters not whether a man or a woman comes from the lowlands 
or from the highlands, whether from rich or poor antecedents, from 
the halls of the great universities, from the stuffed classroom of the 
night school, or from the little red schoolhouse on the hill, each may 
have potentialities of inestimable value, and each individual should 
be given his opportunity. 

In reporting to this office, district managers must not charge an 
error to a subordinate; they alone are responsible to me for the proper 
management and strict discipline of their offices and of the fulfillment 
to disabled men of the Government’s obligation, as prescribed by 
legislation, as I in turn am to the President. 

I feel strongly on these matters which I have just mentioned, for 
I have seen in several of the districts instances of merit unrecognized 


4 


WORK OF THE VETERANS* BUREAU. 


and of the retention in positions of trust of men of questionable 
ability, both, I am sorry to say, to the detriment of the work. It is 
a paramount duty that we owe to our fellow creatures, and more 
especially to those with whom we labor side by side, to recognize 
loyal and effective industry, and it is almost of equal importance 
that we weed out the incompetents and the otherwise unfit. Political 
and selfish purposes are not to be served at the expense of deserving 
employees of this bureau. 

For some time I have been turning over in my mind two questions 
of probable value in promoting the operation of the district offices. 
I desire that you consider each one carefully and offer your thought 
as to their practicability, and in the event of your concurrence with 
the general suggestions, that you outline in each instance both the 
scope and the limits which should be applied. 

First, it has been suggested that while such conferences as the one 
in which we are now engaged are productive of excellent results, and 
while the exhaustive inquiry of the traveling committee likewise has 
much to do with bettering methods, yet neither of these gives the 
district manager that personal, intimate conception of what is being 
done in other districts that I think might prove to be another factor 
of intensive instruction that would be helpful to those in charge of 
field work. 

I am, therefore, considering the proposition of arranging some type 
of rotating supervision between district managers, or of periodical 
visits by district managers to other offices, by which they will have 
an opportunity to exhaustively study the actual working detail and 
methods of other field offices and to indulge in an exchange of ideas 
with each other in the field. I have withheld presenting this to you 
before for the reason that previously I have not felt that the district 
offices were provided to a sufficiently desirable extent with chiefs of 
administration qualified in all respects to carry the load of responsi¬ 
bility during such absences of the district managers, but I believe 
now that this objection has been removed and that the question is 
at least feasible of consideration. 

The other matter is the question of amplifying the responsibility 
placed upon the chief of administration by the present organization 
field chart. In cases which have been brought to my attention I 
find that chiefs of divisions often resent observations made by others 
of but coordinate responsibility, and with some propriety question the 
authority of the chief of administration to exercise any interest in 
their particular field. I would like the candid thought of the district 
managers as to the desirability of fixing on the chief of administra¬ 
tion in addition to his prescribed duties those of executive officer. 
It is important that this weakness be overcome at once and thus 
remove a source of all too common discord. In many districts I 
know that your concurrence in this suggestion will but put the stamp 
of general approval on what has been already informally delegated 
by a number of district managers. 

CLAIMS. 

Since our last conference I have visited almost all the district 
offices, many of the subdistrict offices, most of the hospitals, and a 
large number of the schools and training centers. I find that there is 
an extremely zealous disposition on the part of those in authority to 


WORK OF THE VETERANS* BUREAU. 5 

render the service expected of them and to honestly administer the 
ex-service men the best treatment that can be afforded within tho 
limitations imposed by law. 

I am delighted to commend you on this. I have told you from 
time to time that the ex-service men must have the benefit of the 
doubt, that you can not always settle a case by pure “ affidavitism. ” 
Wherever it is found that a claimant is physically unable to appear 
before an examining board the bureau must go to him. Put 
yourself in the man’s place, were you unable to travel any distance to 
a district or subdistrict office. If you were incapacitated to the 
extent that to travel would aggravate your disability, and this 
aggravation did occur, would you consider yourself responsible for 
the aggravated condition, or would you feel, quite properly, that the 
burden of proof was against the Government ? And would you not 
charge the Government with neglect and responsibility in the event 
of an aggravation or death. Keep in mind that many thousands of 
men have been ordered for examination. And consider also the 
Government’s responsibility in cases that may not have resulted from 
military service, but on which we have ordered men up for examin¬ 
ation. With these things in mind, exercise the most careful judgment 
in ordering men up for examination as opposed to sending the ex¬ 
amining officer to fhe man. 

I am opposed to the correspondence method of adjudicating claims. 
“Insufficient evidence” and “no service connection” mean little to 
thousands of men. “Additional affidavits” is just about as nebulous 
to thousands of others. Many most worthy cases have been neglected 
and delayed, or have died a premature death because of the long 
torturous channel of correspondence resulting from stereotyped 
phrases not understood by the average claimant. This is particularly 
unfortunate where beneficiaries are involved whose education handi¬ 
caps them in understanding carelessly written letters, and in pre¬ 
paring such written evidence as is called for. 

There is such a thing as becoming “hard-boiled.” There is such a 
thing as being influenced unduly by a previous rating, but it is 
essential to fair treatment that each and every case be regarded in a 
fresh light, no matter how often reviewed. A peculiarly trying and 
exacting duty develops upon your board of appeals and your board 
of review and the members of these bodies must constantly be inspired 
to the most earnest and sympathetic consideration of cases brought 
to their attention. 

INSURANCE. 

There is another phase of the bureau’s duties to ex-service and 
service men and women that I must bring to your attention; that is, 
the duty of the Veterans’ Bureau to see that every ex-service man 
and woman is fully advised as to his or her insurance rights and privi¬ 
leges under the war risk insurance act as amended, so that the real 
good intended by the passage of the war risk insurance act and 
amendments can be accomplished. 

I purposely do not mention those now in the service for the reason 
that the rights and privileges of the act are being ably explained by 
the War Department, Navy Department, and Marine Corps, but when 
we realize that upward of 4,500,000 individuals applied for yearly 


6 


WORK OF THE VETERANS* BUREAU. 


renewable term insurance, and that there are approximately only 
600,000 now continuing their insurance, it seems reasonably certain 
that after making allowance for claims awarded, that a large pro¬ 
portion of the remaining 3,500,000 who have allowed their insur¬ 
ance to lapse either do not know their rights and privileges, or, if they 
do, they are not aware of its real advantages. Therefore, gentlemen, 
in order to pay the debt the Veterans’ Bureau owes to the ex-service 
men and women, it is important that we take steps to advise these 
individuals, to the fullest extent permissible under the law, of their 
rights and privileges and to explain the advantages to be obtained by 
reinstating and continuing their insurance. 

This is one of the bureau’s problems. Therefore, it is my problem 
and equally your problem, and the bureau is open to suggestion as to 
better methods for distributing literature and the complete dissemi¬ 
nation of information so that the most isolated case will receive 
proper attention. 

FINANCE. 

You will all be interested to know that action has been taken to 
accomplish prompter payments of bills submitted by the field offices 
to Washington, and steps are being taken looking toward the ultimate 
decentralization of compensation disability awacd payments. De¬ 
centralization of payment of training allowance pay has been author¬ 
ized, but some delay will be experienced due to the fact that the 
manufacture of special equipment can not be made before September 
15. It is probable, however, that the training allowance payments 
after October will be made through the district offices. With these 
facilities at your command, it is expected that further complaints 
about delayed payments will be practically eliminated. 

LEGAL. 

Though legal advisers have been designated in the various districts, 
the officers of the various districts should appreciate the fact that the 
general counsel is legal adviser for the whole bureau and not merely 
for the central office. Consequently, legal problems on which there 
is any doubt in the minds of administrative officers of the various 
districts may be and should be submitted to the general counsel for 
opinion. 

The general ’counsel and his associates give careful consideration to 
problems submitted to them and their decisions are rendered in the 
belief that they are correct. Nevertheless, both the general counsel 
and his associates are men of open minds, and if it is honestly believed 
by the district managers that the opinions expressed by the general 
counsel are in any respect erroneous the general counsel is perfectly 
willing to give the matter reconsideration. Requests for reconsidera¬ 
tion should not be made in a controversial spirit, but wholly for the 
purpose of getting at the correct solution of the problem. 

PERSONNEL. 

For the benefit of members of this conference who were not present 
on the previous occasion or who, due to some oversight, may not have 
had the fact emphasized to them, I want to reiterate forcibly that in 
the selection of personnel and their treatment during the period of 


WORK OF THE VETERANS* BUREAU. 


7 


employment chiefs of divisions must always bear in mind that ex- 
service men and women invariably have the preference, other con¬ 
ditions being equal. Bear in mind, however, that this general rule 
should never operate to retain in the employ of the bureau an ex- 
service person who has manifested an incompetency that can not be 
overcome or has otherwise evidenced his unfitness. It is, however, 
intended to favor those men and women who, by their military 
service, have earned the right to this consideration. Political 
pressure is a matter which should not be permitted to affect the hand¬ 
ling of personnel questions. Oftentimes Senators and Members of 
Congress plead the cause of undeserving employees without a real 
knowledge of all the circumstances, but when informed as to the true 
facts promptly withdraw their recommendations. You will also 
find that in many instances when you explain to the Members of 
Congress that the salary appropriations, als reflected to you in the 
Budget, do not admit the taking of the action which they request 
their insistence will change to commendation. 

MEDICAL. 

One might estimate the task of the Veterans’ Bureau as service to 
an ex-soldier who could qualify at one time or another for all the 
benefits provided by law, multiplied by the number of applicants. 

All benefits being based on physical disability means, as I have so 
often emphasized, that almost every act of the bureau is based on a 
medical opinion: our mistakes and our successes depend primarily 
on the quality of our medical service and 95 per cent of the work of 
the bureau and its huge expenditures are undertaken on the advice 
of our doctors. 

There are about 11,700 medical and dental men engaged in our 
work, 2,200 of them giving full time, 900 in hospitals, and 10,700 in 
district work, of which 8,260 are dental and designated examiners 
and attending specialists on fee basis. Each man has devoted from 
6 to 30 years to his profession and 97 per cent of them saw 
service in the World War. These^men understand, and are under¬ 
stood by, the disabled ex-service men far better than any other class 
of men who come in contact with them. 

The mistakes of the past were largely due to failure to appreciate 
the fundamental medical importance of our problems and also to a 
tendency to overrule or even ignore the doctor’s honest opinions by 
assumption of an authority which the law never contemplated. 
Some of these acts were errors of the heart and may be forgiven, but 
enormous abuses in this respect, not only of the letter but of the 
spirit of the law occurred in the beginning and occur now to some 
extent, for which there is no excuse and which perhaps cause irrep¬ 
arable harm to the character of thousands of young men by helping 
to destroy their self-reliance and their natural ambition to succeed 
through their own efforts. 

In facing the future let us resolutely determine not to commit the 
errors of the past and to go forward in our improved programs guided 
by the light of our experience and the aid of all concerned in relief 
for our disabled veterans. 


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WORK OF THE VETERANS* BUREAU. 


WHAT IS THE REAL BUSINESS OF A VETERANS’ HOSPITAL? 

It is to produce a certain output in health for each man plus a 
decision, whenever possible, on nis employment objective and his 
need for training, before he leaves the hospital. 

This means a radical change in the organization of our hospitals, 
including programs for educating specialists for the medical and 
other personnel, all of which have been approved; standardization 
of all elements that make up our concept of a hospital, namely, human 
energy, brains, and harmony of action, toward which the American 
College of Surgeons has offered, without cost, all the facilities of that 
great organization. This will make possible the success of my plan 
for the dehospitalization of certain patients. 

As I have already mentioned, I have been deeply impressed with 
the fact that the great majority of our chronic hospital cases are 
ambulant, that many of them would be happier and more content 
at home, and that by strengthening the vocational facilities of the 
hospitals in order that each man can have his need for training 
promptly determined and then by as many changes in trade and other 
tests as necessary have his employment objective settled, all while in 
the hospital and under careful medical supervision, that his problem 
can be solved. This will permit of a final decision in each case as to 
the best place outside of the hospital, perhaps the home, in which to 
continue treatment and training until rehabilitated, and without 
loss of compensation. This should be a great saving in time to the 
man, and money to the Government. It may be found that some 
hospitals can be actually converted into special training schools. 

RATING IN THE FIELD. 

Another matter that has come to my attention in connection with 
rehabilitation is that the subdistrict office is usually also the best 
place in which to determine in one operation a man’s employment 
objective and need of training. One good sensible and even average 
doctor in each suboffice, and many already have such, working in 
harmony with the training section, as they all now do in the field, 
can secure a far better picture of a man’s needs, with the records 
and the man himself before them, and near his own home town, than 
the district office can ever hope to do. This suboffice opinion can 
be made legal simply by approval of the district manager. Another 
short cut to efficiency in this part of the work might be, after all the 
legal questions have been cleared, to route such cases direct from the 
claims section to the suboffices. This statement to the suboffice 
should also include an opinion as to percentage of compensability, 
if not a training case; whether hospitalization or out-treatment is 
needed and whether the assistance of outside agencies is required. 

Such procedure should prevent the too frequent conflicts aroused 
in a man’s mind by he being told one thing by one doctor and another 
thing by another and obviate much of the just criticism of our work 
in this respect. This, it seems to me, leads us to the real, the actual 
decentralization in it’s truest sense. 


WORK OF THE -VETERANS* BUREAU. 9 

DEHOSPITALIZATION. 

I have in mind, gentlemen, a matter which I have discussed with 
the President and to which I have given long hours of study and that 
is the dehospitalization of men who have proceeded to their homes 
and are receiving out-patient treatment, and during their period of 
disability be not reduced in compensation. Between 65 and 70 
per cent of our cases are ambulant. About 40 per cent of these 
ambulant cases could be discharged from hospitals and returned to 
their homes, provided, however, that the environment of their homes 
will be conducive to a recovery. 

Too much institutionalism, to my mind, is harmful. The man loses 
courage, his morale is destroyed, and be entertains an unwholesome 
fear of going out into the world and attempting the great str ug gle. 
The man’s courage must be strengthened, his mind occupied by 
helpful inspiration, and he must be stimulated to a determination to 
recover and return to active work. Hospitalization, when unneces- 
sary, is an insidious and dangerous treatment, often robbing a man 
of that most valuable of human traits, self-reliance. It w ill deteri¬ 
orate ideals and deaden ambition. A man should mingle with normal 
fellow beings and absorb from them strength and courage and an 
outlook on life which well and happy men possess. As soon as 
possible get the disabled out in the sunshine, near to nature or indus¬ 
try, as the individual disability may suggest as being most helpful, 
but in all events take them away from those surroundings which 
will inevitably sap real manhood. Industrial history has never 
been made by men who are content to accept anything approaching 
the domiciliary treatment to which many of our ex-service men are, 

I fear, rapidly becoming subjected. 

REHABILITATION. 

I have been much interested in our rehabilitation work, and I have 
been following closely the number of men who have gone from our 
schools to be welded again into the fabric of the industrial personnel 
of our nation. I have watched their progress, and I have sought 
the best advice obtainable on an employment program. 

You are to-day operating an employment unit within your dis¬ 
trict, the purpose of which is to provide employment for all rehabili¬ 
tated ex-service men and women. That this division of our work 
will be a success goes without comment. The great industrial centers 
of the country have responded most generously and are absorbing 
into their activities many men who have been trained under Govern¬ 
ment supervision. 

No one knows better than you gentlemen the high proportion of ex- 
service men of foreign birth who speak our language feebly and are 
utterly innocent of any knowledge of English. It is my earnest 
desire that all ex-service people so handicapped be carefully instructed 
to correct this fundamental weakness, and I look to see the time fast 
approaching when men rehabilitated by the United States Govern¬ 
ment will be not only skillful workmen in their respective trades or 

E ersons of real accomplishment in those vocations for which they 
ave prepared, but will be creditable monuments to the instruction 
in English which is being given. 


10 


WORK OF THE VETERANSBUREAU. 


I conceive it to be an obligation of the Government that while in 
employment we should maintain an observation of the rehabilitated 
man’s progress, not only to stimulate him in his chosen field or work, 
but to advise him in all matters which have to do with his health. 
Their passing from training back into industry must not mean that 
the Government has discharged its entire responsibility. It must be 
remembered that a man received training because of a disability and 
a vocational handicap incurred in the line of his military duty, and 
until a rehabilitated man has safely embarked upon his new endeavor 
with surroundings that are apparently conducive to his happiness 
and welfare, and not until then, has the Government discharged its 
debt. 

CORRESPONDENCE. 

One of the features of the work of the bureau which can and must 
be improved is corespondence. I do not like to cite to you ele¬ 
mentary principles of a subject with which your forces should be 
thoroughly informed, but such numerous and repeated instances of 
gross failure to treat letters with care and thought are brought to 
me that I am constrained to discuss somewhat the treatment of 
mail. I recall one instance of a correspondence clerk who said in 
his letter to a prominent man, “of course, to a man of your intelli¬ 
gence.” I have on numerous occasions been severely criticized by 
the Members of the United States Senate and House of Representa¬ 
tives because of letters from bureau officials utterly ignoring specific 
questions asked, and replying to a serious communication with a 
stereotyped phraseology, or even with a form letter. Such gross 
mistreatment of mail may not have resulted from any vicious inten¬ 
tion, but it was certainly an evidence of the grossest indifference or 
culpable ignorance. 

I want you to take'back to your people some thoughts that must 
be observed with a fidelity to both the letter and the spirit of instruc¬ 
tion. Every person dictating a letter must always remember first, 
that there is nothing personal in his work, that he is representing 
the United States Government, and the tone of his letter should 
be quiet and factive; never conveying the impression of impatience 
or contain the slightest possible ground for inference of discourtesy. 
The receipt of a caustic or quarrelsome letter under no circumstances 
justifies a reply in like tenor. There is much truth in the old saying 
that “A man who reads his letter when his feelings have grown cool 
would like to have a kicker come and kick him, as a rule.” Do not 
give reasons or explanations unless they are requested. To do so 
gives rise to a purposeless correspondence in addition to reflecting 
on the intelligence of the addressee. Do not hestitate to say “No” 
if that is the answer, and having said no, do not attempt to suggest 
an alternative aimed to circumvent your own no. 

It is highly important that correspondence be kept moving. It is 
almost equally important that all letters and textual matter be 
prepared in a workmanlike manner. An irregular, ununiform, 
botched appearance generally indicate an indifferent consideration 
of the subject being handled and gives rise, with justification, to a 
question as to the accuracy of statements contained. It is my 
belief that some thought by this conference might well be spent 


WORK OF THE VETERANS* BUREAU. 


11 


on making suggestions that will obviate these weaknesses mentioned 
and be conducive of improvement in the quality of letters emanat¬ 
ing from the various offices of the bureau. 

BUDGET REPORTS. 

I want to emphasize the importance of keeping within the Budget 
allotment for the administrative expenses of each district. This can 
be done only by budgeting the district as a whole, the district office, 
and every suboffice and school within the district. Allotments must 
be made quarterly with a current check of expenditures against allot¬ 
ments. After an allotment is received, there should be set aside a 
surplus which will amount to a reserve to meet emergencies. The 
district manager who operates under a budget and can not allocate 
his funds in such a manner that they are elastic enough to cover any 
reasonable emergency without calling upon the central office for a 
fresh allotment is not on top of his job and fails to appreciate the 
advantages of a budget. I want a personal report from each of you 
as to savings which you will make on your allotment. I will look 
forward to these reports because I am a firm believer that efficiency 
and economy go hand in hand. 

Of scarcely less importance is the matter of consolidated monthly 
progress reports. The purpose of a progress report, especially in an 
organization like the Veterans’ Bureau, with offices scattered over the 
country, is to enable each executive from bottom to top to tell his 
superior what he accomplished, and if there be arrearages what steps 
are taken to wdpe them out. If the district manager does his full 
duty in requiring reports from his subdistrict managers and subordi¬ 
nates, he knows exactly the size and distribution of the training, hos¬ 
pital, dispensary, compensation, and insurance load which he must 
administer within his district. The parts of his program which are 
showing progress are known as well as who deserves the credit. Also, 
he knows where the district’s program is falling down and where to 
center his energies. The mild and indifferent manner in which certain 
executives of this bureau in the past countenanced wrong conditions 
can be stopped by intelligent use of progress reports and going after 
every wrong condition as soon as it is brought to light. More results 
and less excuses are demanded from every district manager, and he in 
turn must demand no less from each subdistrict manager and execu- 
tive. 

There has been serious complaint about the work involved in sub¬ 
mitting reports of progress to the central office. While suggestions 
as to the improvement of that form of report are always welcome 
and nonessentials must be cut out, the essential facts must be re¬ 
ported. No effort has ever been made to ask for all the important 
facts regarding the operation of a district, but good administration 
demands that the director know and follow the trend, progress, and 
success of the fundamental duties for which he is made responsible 
by act of Congress. 

The fact that this bureau will disburse more money this year and 
next vear than any other department of the Government, means that 
it receives more careful scrutiny by the appropriating committees of 
Congress and on the floor of both Houses, than any other department. 


12 


WORK OF THE VETERANS* BUREAU. 


The administration is demanding efficiency and economy in Gov¬ 
ernment. One-fifth of the total outlay of the Government, exclusive 
of that of the public debt, will be made through this bureau next year. 
Responsibility therefore for one-fifth of the cost of government, its 
efficiency or inefficiency in the administration of funds, rests in the 
hands of you who are attending this conference. I charge you now 
with knowing and measuring the services rendered from day to day 
and month to month, and seeing to it that each dollar counts. 

As I stated above, I can keep in personal touch with essential facts 
only. Much information which the district managers must have, vital 
to the bureau’s success, can not reach the director’s office. The 
periodic survey of the district and subdistricts to make sure that there 
is full use of educational facilities afforded by schools and factories 
in the community and those which the bureau provides, full utiliza¬ 
tion of Government hospitals in the district which have empty beds 
available and maintained at a high overhead cost, contracts with the 
best private hospitals, prompt and satisfactory employment of re¬ 
habilitated trainees, complete cooperation with the civic, social, and 
veterans’ organizations of each community, all interested in the wel¬ 
fare of ex-service men, illustrate my point. 

It is safe to say that in a project so large as ours, the success or 
failure of each district depends upon the ability of its executive to 
keep before himself the fundamental facts as a basis for decision and 
action. 

CONCLUSION. 

In conclusion I want this conference to mean much to you all and 
I want each of you to write me personally, setting forth your impres¬ 
sion of the conference and particularly as to the discussions which 
have been the most interesting to you. I want you to have ever in 
mind that you are representing your Government in the greatest 
undertaking of its kind which history has known. Be careful in 
your deliberations, be strong in your well considered and well founded 
convictions, be honest with your fellow man and above all do not 
turn a disabled man or woman from your door until his story has 
been heard and sympathetically and intelligently treated. 

Do not discharge your duties in a perfunctory manner nor cease 
your day’s labor without the inner conviction that you have started 
some man or men on the road to contentment, success, or happiness, 
and do not ease up on your endeavors to bring back the great oppor¬ 
tunity to those whose wounds and ills resulted from the service given 
that our Nation might live on forever. 


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